Apple will become the world’s largest smartphone maker by volume for the first time in 2023, ending Samsung’s 12-year reign as the industry leader as consumers replace more expensive phones.
The iPhone maker was the only major phone maker to post annual unit growth last year, according to research group IDC. Shipments rose 3.7 percent to 234.6 million in 2023, surpassing Samsung’s 226.6 million.
IDC said Apple’s growth came in a year that was the worst for the smartphone market in a decade, as device shipments fell 3.2 percent to 1.17 billion units.
Measured by sales and profits, Apple has long been the No. 1 smartphone maker thanks to the iPhone’s dominance of the high-end market. But last year was the first year where it made progress at scale
Samsung, which is preparing to launch its flagship Galaxy S24 model this week, reported a 13.6 percent drop in shipments last year as Huawei regained market share in China and low-cost Android phone makers enjoyed strong growth.
In particular, Chinese manufacturer Transtion – whose Tecno, Infinix and Itel brands have made it Africa’s dominant smartphone company – grew by 30.8 percent last year, finishing in the top five behind Xiaomi and Oppo.
“In 2023, Samsung focused on the mid-to-high-end segment to achieve profitability, but lost its global market leadership along with the low-end segment,” said Amber Liu, director of Canalys Research Group. Apple was also the market leader last year, according to figures released on Tuesday.
Smartphone shipments rose nearly 8 percent year-over-year in the fourth quarter, reversing a seven-quarter decline, as demand from holiday shoppers picked up, Canales said.
Apple lost its position as the world’s most valuable publicly traded company to longtime rival Microsoft on Friday as Wall Street worried about the outlook for iPhone sales in China.
However, Apple’s iPhone sales rose 11.6 percent in the fourth quarter after the company launched its latest models in September, according to IDC figures released Monday.
The smartphone market ranking has changed since Samsung took first place in 2011, when Nokia, LG and BlackBerry led the market.
As smartphone technology matures and new features become more widespread, consumers are less likely to upgrade their everyday devices than before.
But as consumers return their phones, more and more of them are opting for more expensive and more powerful devices — a big boon for Apple, which has raised iPhone prices in recent years.
“Apple’s continued success and resilience is largely due to its growing trend towards premium devices, which now account for more than 20% of the market, supported by aggressive trade-in offers and interest-free financing programs,” said research expert Nabila Popal. Director of IDC.
“While we see strong growth in the second half of 2023 among low-end Android vendors like Transcend and Xiaomi, Apple is clearly the biggest winner, driven by rapid growth in emerging markets,” Bhopal added.
